OK, I’ll admit it. I’m not a DBA, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t overseen databases and their performance. I was (and probably still am) the guy who installed a Microsoft SQL database by hitting Next ...

Most people are familiar with data in the form of a spreadsheet, with labeled columns of different data types such as name, address, age, and so on. Databases work the same way, with each table laid ...

At its heart, data modeling is about understanding how data flows through a system. Just as a map can help us understand a city’s layout, data modeling can help us understand the complexities of a ...

is a senior editor and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Microsoft is overhauling Excel with the ability to support custom live data types.